Aizawl by SS Pathak

Hands full.

OK I know I should continue with what happened in Dehra Dun but you see I have had my hands full with Ginger chai, Fried Eye and triple M .not to mention the domestic job and the govt one. Its a wonder that my ma in law hasn't kicked me out, when I see the neglected and pending house jobs. ( you see generosity pays. Dehra Dun is still paying me. hee hee hee) Ok so I will continue but not today please! In Jan I promise.
As a filler I am providing you the link to My Manali article in Ginger chai. Trust me , get a look , you will like it.
http://www.gingerchai.com/2009/12/26/magical-manali/
There. That should help you. So A happy new year. See you with the best of SPIRITS ooops I mean see you in best of spirits

Dehra Dun -The Landing

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originally uploaded by mani tours.

Dehra Dun -The Landing
My hard disk drive is showing its true colours so had to import a photo from my Flickr Album. So after a loong flight of 30 mins we landed in Dehra Dun. I was red faced with shame. Some experience I was gifting my MIL , wasn't I ? There was no proper Airport In Dehra Dun , rather it was an Air field. We disembarked and started looking for something to drive us into the main city. the Air field is in a pretty desolate place. Hardly any shops. few vehicles. only some Taxis were standing nearby. They were asking for exorbitant rate to drop us in the city. We were shocked. They simply refused to take part in our bargaining. And you can't bargain alone so we were left alone stupidly looking for some other solution when suddenly we saw an Auto rickshaw and after a little haggling we hopped into it. Our first stop was in Sahashtradhara, A beautiful place fed by numerous springs- hence the name. We had our brunch over there. washed ouselves in the cool pure water of the springs. splashed around, clicked snaps(you have already sen them in my previous post). Shashtradhara is the famous spot in Dehra dun. After spending considerable time there we decided to proceed to Tapkeshwar Mandir. An underground temple where at a particular spot, there is a natural ...should I say stream of water or drops of water bathe a Shivling.Hey Rest in next post okay? I have to rush for my duty

Dehra Dun- The story begins

Here I am back again with my story of that memorable trip to Dehra Dun - a much planned gift for my ma in law- but you see , mani and plans don't go together.

OK lets begin by introducing the above snaps to you- the first one - of yours truly in Sahashtra dhara in dehra dun...what? you are expecting some info from me. Come on guys you know the Internet inside out, you dissect blogs and do all your emotional and financial transaction in the net and you are staring expectantly from me for more info on its latitude and longitude, seasons and shopping areas.Hey I am just narrating my experiences here .Am a hopeless travel guide. but OK I will give my version of some tips but at the end of this narration , I mean the end of this story which can span quite a number of posts.

The second snap - Of my ma in law and shaleen -See their smiles- it took one day and a trip to wipe it off.

Third is of Sahastradhara and the fourth of the nearby hills of Mussourie- just around 30 kms away.

So how did it happen- Oh yeah that I can narrate of course. You see, ours was an interstate and inter caste marriage which had disappointed quite a many people so as soon as I settled in the new house I set about smoothing away the ruffled feathers. I had come to know that flying was one of my ma in law's dream , not the bird like you silly, but flying as in aeroplane. So I decided to gift her a flight trip as her birthday gift. Now it isn't so that I am stingy but belonging to a middle class [family in India puts you under some financial constraint, so I decided on something economical and feasible. So I settled for Delhi to Dehradun. Go by flight, come back by train shatabdi with an over night stay. I made all the necessary arrangements by net but had to slightly change our itinerary due to non availability of leaves and settled for a day trip instead. This point is important for the story - remember!

So on 21st of September , yes that's the day! We arrived happily in the Airport, but the moment our eyes set upon the aircraft my husband glared at me. It was not some Boeing or large aircraft , not even the standard ones , but a small light aircraft- Fokker ? I don't know exactly.I felt embarrassed but My ma in law didn't seem to notice and was looked completely excited. So we embarked on a quite eventful trip and the rest ... I will continue in the next post. I promise I will be back soon.

Dehra Dun - A boon or Bane?

So discussed about music, finished narrating about Auli and Goa. So what next or rather which one next. Did I mention about the Dehra Dun trip which was supposed to be a birthday gift to my ma in law? Did I mention how I made it into a disaster inspite of good intentions? Well the next post is going to be about the day trip to Dehra Dun.

Music and long drives

Salaam Namaste! .Well that's the most my brain can register at the moment after a hectic 12 hrs duty!. But the blog needs uploading seriously. So am here groggy eyed! Sleepy! God! I just hope people don't think I do drugs!

Coming back to our topic- that is the importance of music during long drives. At least for the Bhatnagar family its quite important. In fact in the pre journey preparation it occupies one of the top three position- Arranging the music! Yup arranging the music. No I don't have a recording studio and nor am I a composer, but we do have these thing about fixing the music in somewhat neat folders. Yeah! I know why should we complicate a thing as simple as just buying or borrowing or simply downloading them. See let me explain. Suppose in one of your long drives it starts to rain and what would you like to hear at that time most? Obviously not Here Comes The Sun but something romantic and soft like Rimjhim gire sawan. At least I would straight away lunge for it. But But! Wouldn't it be annoying to search frantically for it in the heaps of Cd's or the play list of a CD? So I simply made folders of all conceivable situations like Rain. Night, Funky etc etc and sorted songs relevant to the situation. Like? Like- Tip tip barsa paani, Barso Megha, Garaz baras sawan ghire aao of the movie Paap! In fact whenever that song is played Shaleen starts thinking himself to be John Abraham driving through Ladakh. How concieted of him!

I have Fiza- a folder to exult the beauty of nature which has songs like Kabul Fiza and Aisa shama na hota by Lataji!

Another folder- night- which has night songs like Aaj ki raat, Raat ki humsafar etc. And also a romantic folder and funky. In fact I am prepared for almost anything. I mean good things. Now,Of course Don't think about accidents. loose motions, puncture- no need to act smart OK?

So that's it. Once when I saw some paddy fields and farmland, I realised I don't have anything to go with it. I am yet to compile a folder for it. Any ideas?

music mani and madness

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originally uploaded by mani tours.

So Why?

So why do we travel so much. I mean around 25 trips in 36 months is way too much ,Don't you think so?
Well you see, we both are doctors( me and shaleen ,I mean). He is in the ICU - criticare, where he hardly gets to treat conscious patients. They usually are in a pretty bad shape fighting for survival.Me- well I can't feed much details except that I work in a government run institute, and shoulder great responsibility, answerable to the NHRC, the government, legal bodies, media, and last not least GOD! If you get the idea, then fine or ...you have to just keep guessing,.So the result is that we are in pretty much stress. He always fighting the MAN with THE HOE, sometimes successful sometimes not so...It takes a toll. No matter how mechanised and cynically you start viewing things, one needs a break. In my set up, its pretty basic with no hi fi hi tech set up unlike his,but we have a diktat. Avoid death inside the institute premises at any costs. So if someone gets too sick we have to set our ass on fire and its a run or race for who can make it first, the patient to the referral hospital 15 minutes away or the LEVELLER to the patient past us! After 2 months we start craving for a break even if it is just for a night. Another factor is that Delhi is flat like a pancake( no offense meant, otherwise its green has monuments and all) but we both are nature persons and so start missing the greens of the mountains of Uttaranchal and Himachal.That are the reasons for our frequent trips to the Mountains. Those beautiful breathtaking serene mountains!
I wanted to take a break from trip reports so I wrote about it. My next post will be about role of music in our trips.